The Poorest of the Poor (ePub)

Dr. Seosamh Ó Cuinneagáin from County Limerick, returns annually to Kolkata in India to teach English to the street children and also to attend to the dying destitute in Mother Teresa's hospice where he experiences horrible sights of suffering and death at first hand. He presents a vivid picture of daily life in the slums of Kolkata. He also documents the lives and work of his two role models, Blessed Edmund Rice and St. Teresa of Kolkata and how they had such an influence on him to the extent that he wanted to help the poor in the developing world. After having worked in the slums of Lusaka in Zambia, Africa, in 2006, he was told that poverty was even more acute in Kolkata. He then decided to travel to Kolkata, as some of his colleagues were already doing charity work there.
Seosamh illustrates the great work being done by the Christian Brothers, Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity and how other religious and voluntary organisations as well as private individuals are doing wonderful work on behalf of the poor in India. Seosamh also makes recommendations as to how acute poverty can be alleviated somewhat with the help of the richer countries in the developed world.
Coiscéim published his autobiography in Irish, Bíonn Siúlach Scéalach in 2016, and The Limerick Writers' Centre published the same autobiography in English, entitled Traces – The Way and Path of My life in 2018. Coiscéim also published his documentary on poverty entitled, Na Bochtáin is Boichte. He has also published academic papers in both Irish and in English on applied linguistics.